Mastercard Inc. said Tuesday that roughly $1.1 billion of its annual net revenue comes from Russia and Ukraine, where sanctions and war have put businesses at risk.
Russia and Ukraine are “important contributors” to Mastercard’s overall net revenues, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the stock market closed. About 4% of its net revenues in 2021 “derived from business conducted within, into and out of Russia” and roughly 2% of its net revenues were related to Ukraine.
Mastercard’s net revenue last year totaled $18.9 billion.
The company said it is assessing the impact of governments’ and others’ actions on its operations, “including potential balance sheet and settlement-related exposures.”
Many of the debit and credit cards that Russian banks issue are branded with the Mastercard and Visa logos. U.S. networks handle transactions in Russia but are no longer doing that when sanctioned Russian banks are involved as card issuers.
Russian cardholders are still able to use these cards for purchases in the country, but their transactions are going over other networks, namely Russia’s own Mir network. That means less in potential fee revenue for U.S. networks.
“The bigger fear is that it spills over into something broader that impacts global cross border travel volumes for a longer period of time or it has a negative impact on global economic growth, but we think it’s a little bit more on the temporary side,” said Don Fandetti, an analyst with Wells Fargo & Co. who covers U.S. networks.
The sanctions also will result in foreigners not being able to use their Mastercard or Visa cards in Russia in many cases. The banks that many merchants in Russia use to process their card transactions are being sanctioned. As a result, U.S. networks won’t allow those online or in-person transactions to go through when people with cards issued by U.S. banks, for example, try to buy goods from Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mastercard chief executive Michael Miebach said on the company’s last earnings call that Russia is a “strategically important market” for the company.
